Constellation Brands has sold Nelson's Green Brier Distillery back to the brothers who founded it, closing a ten-year arc that took the Nashville whiskey maker from family control to corporate ownership and back again. The buyer, Belle Meade Spirits, is the company Andy and Charlie Nelson now run.

The deal, completed Monday, includes all of the distillery's inventory and a lease for its Nashville distillery, according to The Spirits Business. A Constellation Brands spokesperson confirmed the sale.

How Constellation took over in three steps

Constellation's path to full ownership unfolded in stages:

• Ten years ago: the company behind Svedka vodka and Pacifico beer bought a minority stake in the distillery.
• 2019: Constellation acquired a majority stake.
• 2024: the beverage giant took full ownership.

The founders' exits tracked the same timeline. Charlie Nelson left the business in 2023. Andy Nelson followed in 2024, the year Constellation completed its takeover. That same year, the brothers bought the rights to two brands that had previously sat in their distillery's portfolio: Belle Meade Bourbon and Louisa's Liqueur. They now operate those labels under their own company, Belle Meade Spirits.

What does the buyback mean for the family?

The Nelsons frame the transaction as a restoration rather than a routine acquisition. The distillery's roots reach back to the 1800s, when it operated as a family business.

"This has been our family business dating back to the 1800s, so to have the opportunity to once again have full ownership of the brand and its storied history is extraordinarily meaningful to us," Andy Nelson told The Spirits Business.

The buyback gives the brothers control of the Nelson's Green Brier name, its stock and its Nashville production site through the lease — assets that passed to Constellation gradually over a decade.

Why is big alcohol selling?

For Constellation, the sale is a portfolio decision, not a sentimental one. The company has been reshaping its wine and spirits holdings around higher-growth segments.

A spokesperson said the transaction supports the company's "focus on the specific consumer segments, channels, and markets best positioned to drive long-term growth for our reshaped wine and spirits portfolio, and we believe Nelson's Green Brier will be well cared for by a local, family-run team connected to its roots."

The statement signals what Constellation is keeping: brands aimed at consumer segments it considers growth engines. Nelson's Green Brier, a heritage whiskey label with deep local ties, did not fit that narrowed focus.

What does the deal signal for founders?

An industry expert cited by the original coverage says the deal highlights an opportunity for independent entrepreneurs. Founders who sold to large operators during the consolidation wave of the past decade may find buyers willing to part with brands that no longer sit at the center of corporate strategy.

For the Nelsons, the sequence of deals since 2023 tells the story: buy back the Belle Meade Bourbon and Louisa's Liqueur rights in 2024, then reacquire the distillery itself — inventory, name and Nashville lease — after a decade under outside ownership.

The family now runs the brand under the same roof as its bourbon and liqueur labels, restoring a spirits portfolio that Constellation had assembled piecemeal.

After ten years, the distillery is a family business again.